Powered saws are often used in surgical procedures, particularly osteotomies. It is desirable to apply a high torque to the bone by the blades of a saw during the cutting procedure to improve the precision of the cutting and reduce the time it takes to perform the procedure. In addition, cutting efficiency can be affected by the frequency of oscillation of the saw blades, if the frequency of the saw is similar to that of the bone, cutting performance would be zero. U.S. Pat. No. 5,846,244 discloses a counter-balanced oscillating saw in which the momentum produced by one blade is offset by momentum produced by its counterpart cutting blade to reduce mechanical vibration, rotational and linear movement of the saw.
The blades of surgical saws are often used in sterile environments. It is useful to be able to provide disposable blades or blades that can be processed for reuse independently of the saw so that a saw can be reused while avoiding the expense or time of sterilizing the whole saw. However, it is important that any blade is securely connected to the handpiece during use to avoid the highly unsatisfactory consequences of the blades becoming loose during a cutting procedure. Therefore, it is desirable to provide an independent blade which is easily removable from the saw for processing but which can be securely connected to the saw during use.
There is thus a need to provide an improved saw which can cut using high torque and prevents the object to be cut oscillating in harmony with the saw, and blades which are independent of the saw but can be securely connected to the saw.